Want a leg up on your competition? It is estimated that 47% of small businesses are still not using social media. Engaging with your customers on social gives you the opportunity to connect over other small businesses ignoring this mode of communication. And video is a great way to connect.
According to Nielsen, almost half of all Americans (143.9 million people) viewed some video online in the month of January alone. It seems pretty safe to guess some of these 143 million are customers of small businesses. So one way to get in on this action is through Video in email marketing campaigns to your customers. Why add video links to email campaigns? In a study by the World Wide Marketing Council, 73% of marketers said that integrating video with their email marketing efforts increased their click-through rates. And the website MarketingSherpa reports that video in an email can lift conversion rates by 50%.
A great article that explains more about the importance of video sharing is at
http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2011/5576/use-of-video-sharing-sites-on-the-rise
We found some of their key findings pretty fascinating:
- Online African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely than Internet-using whites to visit video-sharing sites, 79% vs. 69%.
- Parents use video‐sharing sites more than non‐parents, 81% vs. 61%.
- Younger adults are more likely to use video-sharing sites: 92% of adults age 18-29 use such sites, compared with 80% of those age 30-49, 54% of those age 50-64, and 31% of those age 65+.
One cool way we made a video at the SBDC was using http://animoto.com It is free to use for 30-second videos.